Safari bookmarks change in order of registration change after rearrangement. Do you know a fix?

So I found my issue is limited to my iPad. My iPhone and Mac are synced and show the proper order. My iPad doesn't, and when re-arranging them to be proper on my iPad, it gets out of order on my iPhone/Mac. So I re-sorted them on my iPhone (which synced them properly on my Mac), but then my iPad was out of sync again. I disabled iCloud Safari syncing on my iPad and then re-enabled it after a few minutes. My iPad is now syncing properly. Will report back if they get out of sync again.

First, find the device with ALL the bookmarks you want and that are in the order they should be. Then on all other devices that aren’t synced to that one device, go to iCloud->Safari and disable it (should prompt if you want to merge/delete existing bookmarks, choose to delete). That will wipe all local Safari bookmarks. Wait a few minutes then turn it back on choosing NOT to merge anything and it should then pull down all your bookmarks.

To fix the lack of synchronization in the latest MacOS and iOS versions:

1. Put the Safari bookmark list on one computer in the proper order.
2. Export the Safari bookmark list to your desktop
3. Check that the bookmark list is saved and opens correctly by opening it in Safari
4. If you have a second computer, Delete the old Safari bookmarks and folders on the second computer
5. Import the saved Safari bookmark list in Safari on the second computer.
6. Computer 2 should have the identical bookmark order as computer 1.
7. If you have iOS devices, go to Settings/Name-Apple ID-iCloud/iCloud/Safari on each one
8. switch off Safari, choose Delete files and switch on Safari.
9. The iOS devices should have the same order of Safari folders and bookmarks as the computers.
10. Voila!

Klahane,

After an hour, everything remains synced and in order. If you correct the order on your iPad/iPhone, do the two devices remain synced and in order? If the Mac then becomes un-ordered, I'd recommend disabling Safari iCloud sync on your Mac, launching Safari to verify all bookmarks are removed, then quit Safari and re-enable the sync. Hopefully the bookmarks will be downloaded and in order.

Hello F1208,

Based on the issue you're experiencing across multiple devices, and the steps you've already taken, we believe the best next step will be to connect with support in your region. You can find available options here: Get Support

Best regards.

This is aggravating. I tried so many times to rearrange my bookmarks, the worse part is if I rearrange them on my MacBook, the auto rearrange on my phone. When I edit anything on my phone or add a new bookmark, it goes back to putting all the new bookmarks that were created after the latest OSX or iOS update back to the top of the safari favorites. This makes bookmarking pretty useless.

The workaround stated at by the topic started only works until I edit the bookmarks on another machine or add a new bookmark.

I moved all my bookmarks over to firefox and will just be using that as my default browser hoping they get this fixed some time soon.

So, after a test today, I find that Shareef Yousef's method does not work on our devices.

First, even after choosing to delete Safari iCloud information on our iPad and iPhones, the only choice when turning Safari back on in iCloud Settings is Merge. There is no choice not to merge.

On our Macs, there is no choice to delete the Safari iCloud information. And the only choice when turning it back on is Merge.

I could demonstrate the issue with only two Macs, side by side. Changing the order of some bookmarks on one Mac instantly rearranged the same bookmarks on the other Mac, but not in the same order.

And, by the way, there is not Safari category in iCloud when signed in with a browser.

I'm on Big Sur with a 2014 iMac so this may not apply to you, but I have found that if I re-organize the bookmarks on my iPhone, that new organization gets forwarded to my Mac. After that occurs, the bookmarks on my iMac and iPhone remain synced no matter where I make new changes.

I thought of a way to fix the specific issue I have, which is three newish bookmarks in Favorites > Miscellaneous.

On my Mac, I created a Misc. 2 folder and put that at the end of Miscellaneous and put the three problem bookmarks in Misc. 2.

But on my iPhone, the Misc. 2 folder is in the middle of the bookmarks in Miscellaneous. When I put Misc., 2 at the end of the list on my iPhone, it pops to second from the top on my Mac.

By the way, the bookmarks in my Miscellaneous folder are not in alphabetical order.

This issue seems to affect only the newer bookmarks in my Miscellaneous folder. I rearranged a couple of older bookmarks and that change stuck and is syncing.

Yep- same here. Trying to maintain arrangement of bookmarks across iPad, iPhone and MacOS is broken and has been for awhile. Somewhat relieved that it is not just me, but, the extent to which some have gone to solve this issue on their own is commendable, but beyond frustrating. Going back to turning synching off, which is just a **** shame- but this broken going back to what looks like 2018 at least. Not hopeful it'll be fixed anytime soon. Mozilla here I come...

This may have worked for me. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I found that when importing the exported bookmarks to Safari on the first mac, I ended up having to do a lot of cleaning up as I had a long default list of bookmarks that I didn't want.

But it did propagate to my iPhone and iPad after unlinking Safari from iCloud and then relinking.

Your step 8 is confusing because after switching Safari off and choosing delete, then switching Safari back on your only choice is Merge. I guess you're merging the iCloud bookmarks with an empty set of bookmarks on your iPhone or iPad.

Hello,

I would like to know if it still works. Are your bookmarks still in the order you placed them? If so, I'll do the same as you.

Thank you for following!